Yay for serious progress, Maddy! We'll get there eventually. And I know what you mean about Helm's Deep; it's sort of shocking that it only gets one chapter while the Isengard section, for example, gets three or four. The book and movies focus on such different parts! By the way, I agree with you about Theoden's recovery—that's one of my favorite parts of the movies.

All the literary folks are off writing!

Yes, either novels or research papers. *dies a little*

Don't worry, I have three lit classes next semester as well (one of them in Spanish ) plus two writing classes. I'll be interested to hear your thoughts on Malory; I'm not in any hurry to read his work again, although the fact that my library has a free audio download of Derek Jacobi reading Morte d'Arthur might change things. As for me, I'm really excited for my Jane Austen class next semester.

I also picked up an old E. Nesbit book, The Enchanted Castle

I read that one, and remember enjoying it, although I don't think it was one of her best books. Of course, I love The Railway Children more than all her fantasy novels put together.

So! December is upon us, and if anyone is interested in joining us, Alyosha, Valia and myself are planning on (beginning) to read War and Peace. If anyone else wants to join in, I'm sure we'd all love to have you! Or in any case, for those who have already read the book, I'm sure we'd love your insights and input and etc.

[/end announcement]

I finished reading The Queen of Attolia a couple of days ago, and liked it quite a bit more than The Thief, which, if you will all recall, I did not hate, but just did not enjoy as much as I have other books. I think I enjoyed QoA much more because of the characters- especially the Queen of Attolia. I personally liked her a lot, and found her an extremely interesting character- on all different fronts. The plot was pretty grabbing as well. I also appreciated that there was less swearing than I thought there would be, and little of the gods-worship, etc, which I am still figuring out for myself. Meaning, I know what I personally believe but I don't quite know what to actually do with that knowledge yet...much like when someone gives you an unexpected gift that doesn't look like it will do anything in particular, and you're left standing there attempting to be polite to the giver but also rather confusedly attempting to...appreciate it and figure it out. Anyways. Someday I shall come upon the answer. All that to say, it was good! So good I bought the third one a few days later.

I read your review of that on your blog, and I must say I enjoyed it. Very thoughtful and insightful. Do watch the BBC miniseries when it makes it over here, but don't set your hopes too high; I found parts of it quite aggravating, although other sections were wonderful.

Thank you! That is rather sad about there being good parts and then parts that were aggravating in the mini-series, I'm kind of (obviously) reserving my judgment until I see it, but I'll admit there have been one or two things I've read about it that had me a little concerned... ah well. At least we will always have the book, eh?

I'm also very glad you enjoyed The Railway Children! That was one of my favorite books as a child, and I've been fighting an urge to reread it recently. (I think I'll wait until my little sister and I finish various other projects, so that the two of us could read it together. ) I don't think it's at all an accident that Nesbit's prose reminded you of Lewis, as she appears to have been a great influence on him; note that the opening lines of The Magician's Nephew reference "The Bastables," the protagonists of Nesbit's The Treasure Seekers among other books.

Ah yes, I recall that! Very neat- and I'm glad to know that I wasn't just imagining things. I ought to read at least The Treasure Seekers at some point, we've seen a television adaptation (although I'm not 100% sure how close it followed the book), so it'd be nice to read the book.

As for me, I'm really excited for my Jane Austen class next semester.

You're taking a Jane Austen class? Very nice! Do let us know how it goes! (Please?)

Kate: How are you enjoying The Count of Monte Cristo?

Fanny: I've never read Shirley, but I can tell you that Villette certainly drags.

Ah, okay, thanks!! It must be that it was your thoughts on Villette that I read, when you posted them a while back. *is glad to know now*

I spoke of River Jordan here, when I had read her third book, (the first I read).

I have just finished reading her second book, The Messenger Of Magnolia Street. This book is just amazing!! It took me some time to get into it because of the way it was written, but once I understood why it was written this way I was sucked in. This lady truly has a gift for writing, and I love that she adds of her faith in it.

Over all I loved this one just about as much as Saints in Limbo, not sure which I like best and it doesn't matter- both are great books.

I have bought her first book and will begin to read it tomorrow, as it arrived today.

I haven't been in this thread awhile and I need to get caught up. But I just thought I'd share what I bought and picked up this past weekend, at an excellent new and used bookstore!

Bought
Bunyan, The Holy War
The Chronicles of Narnia and Philosophy: The Lion, the Witch, and the Worldview [Popular Culture and Philosophy Series]
Windows Vista book

Picked up in a FREE bin outside the store
Cultural Anthropology: A Christian Perspective
Joseph Stowell, Fan the Flame: Living out your first love for Christ
Old Testament Survey book + book with Bible charts and maps
American and British Literature anthologies

DancingPrincesses: I love Orczy, Lewis, and Alcott!

EDIT
Last night, I read John White's Flirting with the World: A Challenge to Loyalty. I highly recommend it!

Believe it or not, I'm still reading The Fellowship. I've been extremely busy and then I had to return it to the library but I just got another copy out and I've finished book1 so hopefully I should be done soon.

I believe it. I started Red Storm Rising by Tom Clancy in late July and finished it on Saturday.

I was reading Engaging Father Christmas by Robin Jones Gunn, but my new book, The Mermaid in the Basement by Gilbert Morris, arrived yesterday, I had to immmediately wade into TMitB. I'm really enjoying it; however, I haven't figured out who the murderer is. I've promised (coerced is more like it ) my brother he can read it next and I'm sure he will figure "who-dun-it" faster than I am.

SnowAngel

I started Red Storm Rising by Tom Clancy in late July and finished it on Saturday.

I loved Red Storm Rising...absolutely my favorite Clancy book, hands down. If someone were new to Clancy that would be the book I would direct them to first. I got into serious trouble at work when I read it many years ago...I could not go to sleep until I finished just one more chapter. Of course one turned into a second, and then a third, and I spent the day half asleep. But the second I got home, instead of taking a well needed nap I opened that book back and up kept on plowing right through. A little dated by today's standards but if you can get past the first 100 pages (which can be daunting) it really kicks into high gear and doesn't let go. The Iceland sequences were my favorite part, but the tank battles in Germany and especially the naval warfare part on Nimitz and USS Chicago were harrowing.

*gets off his soapbox*

I really loved it.

Ly: ooh! Jane Austen course? How fun. Will you be reading all six novels? I guess you probably don't know yet. I'd be interested to know what order your professor teaches them in.

Fanny: Oh dear, that does sound fun. Unfortunately, I'm busy with Count so I'll have to pass. But I want to hear how you ladies like it.

So you were another one of those people who didn't really think The Thief was all that great? I thought it was nice, but not miraculous. I'm glad you liked the second book. I'll read it some day. Maybe I'll be an Attolian yet.

I love love love love love The Count of Monte Cristo. *is in danger of fangurlish behavior* I hadn't read it in over a month and then I got the overwhelming desire to pick it up and then I couldn't put it down. It's very dangerous because finals are coming!

Kate: Let me just say that you are really going to enjoy the rest of The Count! The themes in it are wonderful- redemption, mercy, even the theme of revenge is an interesting one. Not necessarily revenge in and of itself, but of how different people handle it- it's really a masterful work overall! I'm so glad you're enjoying it now, and I will try my best not to spoiler it for you.

About The Thief, I would probably agree somewhat. While everything does fall into place when the second two are read, I personally still think The Thief was alright, a nice story but nothing that spectacular. It wasn't boring, but I found the second one at least a greater improvement. That being said, I read the third one over these past few days. It was nice- there was some more things I didn't exactly like about it of course, but it wasn't a bad story all in all.

We've set up a blog to (hopefully) post our progress and thoughts as we read War and Peace, so hopefully that will come in handy as well. The link will probably turn up in one of our signatures here in the next few days or so. [/slightly random]

I have read "The Theif Lord" by Cornelia Funke and I really like it!
anyone else?

*is supremely jealous of Lys' Austen class*

I've been so busy with school, etc. that I've not had a whole lot of time to read lately. I did finish my LibraryThing Arc, Powers. I still need to post my review, but it's going to be favorable. It's nice to come across some decent Christian fiction for a change. Currently I'm reading The Big Over Easy, a Jasper Fforde book. It's the first book in his Jack Spratt investigates series and it's pretty enjoyable.

Right now, I'm reading The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence, a 17th-century French monk. It's really good!

I'm still getting through 1984. There's a huge slab of exposition (30+ pages) and the information is essential but it's delivery is driving me crazy. Exposition is bad enough at the best of times but this amount is ridiculous. Otherwise it's quite a good novel.

I'm also reading The Night Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko (the English translation). I'm not sure what genre it belongs to. Maybe urban fantasy? It's very good so far. There are four books in the series, this is the first.

This is a randomish post.

Anyway, I was reading Kidnapped last week, and Alan and David stopped at Rest-and-be-Thankful. Which made both Kidnapped and The Sherwood Ring that much cooler. Also, speaking of interesting coincidences relating to books, I'm very certain that I'd never took notice of the Appin murder before, but that week I ran across a reference to a song about it right before I read the book!

I also read How to Ditch Your Fairy because Booky had given it an okay rating. I'll give it the same. Amusing fluff.

Then I reread my favourite Sherwood Smith book, Court Duel. Because we'd just finished reading Pride and Prejudice out loud, I was particularly interested to notice the parallels between the two books.

Because I'm feeling guilty about watching most of the '09 Emma before reading the book, I've started Emma. (On the other hand, it's certainly fun trying to decide what the significant glances mean without a better knowledge of who ends up with who than what I can glean from the graphics on the subject. )

I started Red Storm Rising by Tom Clancy in late July and finished it on Saturday.

I loved Red Storm Rising...absolutely my favorite Clancy book, hands down.

It was good, but not my favorite. *dodges any tomatoes that might come her way* I think Red October is my favorite Tom Clancy book. That reminds me... it's about time to re-read Red October.

I finished The Mermaid in the Basement last night. It's definitely one of Gilbert Morris's better books. However, once I got past about the two hundred pages mark, it was pretty clear that the murderer was...

Now I'm reading Hidden Places by Lynn Austin. It's my favorite Lynn Austin book. I love the mysterious feel that Hidden Places has (the title probably aids that feeling ).

SnowAngel

ForeverFan wrote
I finished reading The Queen of Attolia a couple of days ago, and liked it quite a bit more than The Thief, which, if you will all recall, I did not hate, but just did not enjoy as much as I have other books.

I'm glad you are enjoying it, ForeverFan.
I'm currently rereading the Queen of Attolia. I'm enjoying it more then the first time, probably largely due to the fact I read it rather fast that time, so I didn't catch all of the details. I think I've noticed more this time around.
On another note, I love the way the author incorporates the thoughts of the characters into the story.

ForeverFan wrote
I personally liked her a lot, and found her an extremely interesting character- on all different fronts.

I agree, Attolia is a very interesting character, as is Gen. . .

And now I must finish this post so I can read some more of QoA--I'm in the middle of the climax and have been picking up the book in between typing sentences.